One of the most
influential Marxist theorists of the twentieth century, Henri Lefebvre first
published Marxist Thought and the City in French in 1972,
marking a pivotal point in his evolution as a thinker and an important
precursor to his groundbreaking work of urban sociology, The Production
of Space. Marxist Thought and the City—inwhich he reviews the
work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels for commentary and analysis on the life
and growth of the city—now appears in English for the first time.

Rooted in orthodox
Marxism’s analyses of capitalism and the capitalist mode of production, with
extensive quotations from the works of Marx and Engels, this book describes the
city’s transition from life under feudalism to modern industrial capitalism. In
doing so it highlights the various forces that sought to maintain power in the
struggles between the medieval aristocracy and the urban guilds, amid the
growth of banking and capital.

Providing vital
background and supplementary material to Lefebvre’s other books, including The
Urban Revolution and Right to the City, Marxist Thought and
the City is indispensable for students and scholars of urbanism,
Marxism, social geography, early modern history, and the history of economic
thought.